Electric heater



PHILIP APFEL, OF SEATTLE,l WASHINGTON.

ELECTRIC HEATER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 15, 1919.

Application led July 3, 1917. Serial No. 178,866.

'o all whom. t may concern Be it known that I, PHILIP F. APFEL, citizen of the United States, residing at Seattle, in the county of King and State of lVashington, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Electric Heaters, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in electric heaters, and the object of my invention is to provide au electric heater which shall be of such form of construction as will adapt it to be utilized for heating to different temperatures, as may be desired, different objects, as, for instance, materials and tools used by dentists, and which shall be adapted to serve as a cigar lighter.

I accomplish this object by devices illustrated in the accompanying wherein- Figure 1 is a plan view of one form of an electric heater embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a view of the same in vertical luid-section on broken line 2, 2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view in front side elevation of a modified forni of electric heater embody-v ing my invention; i

Fig. 4 is a view ofthe same in vertical mid-section on broken line 11, 4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view in vertical section showing a modified form of details of my invention; and

Fig. 6 is a view in side elevation of a modified form of heating element.

Referring to the dra-wings, throughout which like reference numerals indicate like parts, in Figs. 1 and 2 a body portion 5 of the form of an upright cylinder is made of refractory material that is a non-conductor of electricity, and its top end is provided with three recesses 6, 7 and 8 of circular cross-section which extend downwardly from its top end surface to a depth nearly equal to two fifths of its height.

Preferably the body portion 5 is of molded earthy material. asporcelain or plaster of Paris, and embedded therein are two electrical conductors 9 and 10 which are disposed to extend from circuit connectors 11 and 12 with which they are respectively connected). each to and through the bottom surface of the recess 7 at different points thereof, as shown more clearly in Fig. 2.

Within the bottom portion of the recess 7 drawings,

is disposed an electrical heating element 13, whose top. surface is covered by a disk of refractory insulating material and which heating element 13 is electrically connected to both of the end surface-s of said conductors 9 and 10 to extend therebetween, Whereby, if the circuit connectors 11 and 12 be operatively connected to a switch-controlled elec-tric circuit that is in connection with a suitable source of electricity, then, at times required, a current of electricity may be caused to flow through said heating element 13 to heat it to a desired temperature.

The recesses 6 and 8 are so relatively disposedwitli respect to the recess 7 that said recess 8 is much nearer the recess 7 than is the recess 6, whereby when the heatingv element 13 is operatively heated, a consideiable portion of the heat thereof will be conducted through the walls of the recess 7 to the walls of the recess 8, and a niucli less portion thereof will be conducted to the walls of the recess 6, thus causing` the interior of the recess 6 to be heated to a lower temperature than that ofthe recess 8 while the inte-rior of the recess 7 will be heated to a temperature much higher than that of said recess 8.

Thus, different objects may be heated each to any desired one of three different degrees of temperature by projecting 1t into the required oiie of the three recesses 6.` 7 and 8.

The heating element 1 3 may be made of any of the different materials that are well known to those skilled in the art as being suitable for the purpose, and it may be .releasably secured in electrical connection with the ends of the conductors 9 and 10 in any convenient manner whereby it may easily be replaced by a new one.

In Figs. 3 and 4 I have shown an electric heater which is like the structure illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, except in the particulars that its cylindrical body portion 14 is disposed with its axis in a horizontalplane instead of a vertical plane, its Circuit connectors 15 and 16 are disposed on its rearward end instead of at opposite points on its cylindrical surface as shown in Fig. 4, and its said cylindrical surface is surrounded by a metal band 17 which is provided with supporting members 18 and a plate 19 that may serve as a warming table, as shown more clearly in Fig. 3. For some conditions of use it is preferable that the warming table comprising the plate 19 be made of molded refractory earthy material instead of metal.

The recesses 20, 21 and 22 (which correspond respectively to the recesses 6, 7 and 8 of the structure of Figs. 1 and 2) are disposed with relation to the supporting members 1S and plate 19 so that their axes are all in a vertical plane which intersect the center of the horizontally disposed plate 19.

Manifestly, heat generated in the recess 21 will warm the interior of the lower recess 20, and to a greater degree will warm the interior of the higher recess 22 while the plate 19 will be warmed sufficiently to serve as a warming table.

The heating element 23 of the recess 21 and the heating element 13 of the recess 7, may be heated to such high temperature as will adapt said recesses 21 and 7 respectively to serve as convenient cigar lighters.

In Figs. 5 and 6 I have shown a different form of heating element which comprises a cylindrically formed cup 24, made of refractory earthy material that is a non-conductor of electricity, which is surrounded by a suitable heating conductor 25 of helical form, as shown in Fig. 6.

The cup 24 thus surrounded by the heating conductor 25 is disposed t0 fit snugly within a recess 2G formed in a body portion 28 (which recess 2G and body portion 28 correspond in form and function to the recess 7 and body portion 5 of Fig. 2) in such position that the outer side surface of the upper end of the heating conductor 25- will make electrical connection with the end surface of a conductor 27, while the outer side surface of the lower end of said heating conductor 25 makes electrical connection with a conductor 29, said conductors 27 and 29 being extended to connect with suitable terminal connectors not shown.

Then my electric heater is to be used only for the purpose of lighting cigars or for heating objects to the same high temperature, then the recesses 6 and S and the recesses 20 and 22 become unnecessary and may be omitted in the construction of the cylindrical body portions 5 and 11 respectively and such body portions may then be of smaller diameter.

Obviously, changes may be made in the forms, dimensions :rml-arrangement of parts of my electric heater without departing from the spirit of my invention.

llVhat I claim is:

1. An electric heater of the class described, which embodies a mass of refractory earthy material that is a non-conductor of electricity, within which mass is formed a plurality of recesses which extend inwardly from its surface, said recesses being so relatively disposed with respect to a certain one of them that the distance between different adjacent ones of them is different; an electrical heating element disposed in said certain one of said recesses; and means for connecting said heating element with an electric circuit.

2. An electric heater of the class described, which embodies a cylindrically formed mass of refractory earthy material that is a nonconductor of electricity, within one end of which mass is formed a plurality of recesses which extend inwardly from the surface thereof, said recesses being so relatively disposed with respect to a certain one of them that the distance between different adjacent ones of them is different; an electric heating element disposed in said certain one of said recesses; means for connectingV said heating element with an electric circuit: a metal band disposed to surround the cylindrical surface of said mass: supporting members attached to the exterior surface of said metal band in a position to adapt them to support said cylindrically formed mass with its aXis in a horizontal plane; and a plate secured to the cylindriml surface of said metal band and disposed in a plane parallel with the bottom surfaces of said supportingr members whereby said plate may serve as a warming table.

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 25th day of June, A. D. 1917.

PHILIP F. APFEL. 

